Ryan Barrett's blog

If we want to understand the origins of the [Christian] Consummation Movement,
we need to look at the society in which it grew. By the early 2040s, mass
automation and globalisation had permanently raised the US unemployment rate to
more then 30 percent, with ‘underemployment’ doubling that number. Enhanced
social security and the glimmerings of a basic minimum income in some states had
taken the financial sting out of this economic shift, but money alone couldn’t
replace the sense of meaning or direction that citizens had once derived from
work – nor could it address the fragmentation of physical communities across
the country.

3 thoughts on “”

It was via my disappointment in missing Adrian Hon’s Long Now talk that I discovered the “Little Atoms” podcast, which is now part of my permanent queue. Adrian’s segment is hilarious, and one of the better interviews I’ve heard of him. (I actually found is Long Now talk, which I did listen to on the podcast, to fall flat in some ways.) Especially fun is his account of how “Zombies, Run” (Ingress-meets-Runkeeper) was conceived ([paraphrasing]: “I wanted to start running, but I was really rubbish at it. And the only apps available had completely demoralising social elements, telling me I should beat my friend’s best time of a 4:55 mile. And I thought, I’m a miserable fat failure — I can’t possibly do that! So I wanted to make a fitness app for the rest of us…”)